2000
#131,366
National surname rank
First available Census row
Italian surname meaning "little nobleman" or "little leader".
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 134 Americans carry the last name Attilio. That puts it at #144,270 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 2,557,868 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Attilio surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
Bearers in the US
134
1 in 2,557,868
Census rank
#144,270
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.0
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
117
very rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 117 bearers of the surname Attilio in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 144270th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Attilio, the largest self-reported group is White at 90.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.3%) and Two or More Races (3.4%).
Origin
The surname Attilio is of Italian origin, derived from the Latin name Atilius, which itself is rooted in the Roman family name Attilius. It is believed to have originated in the ancient Roman era, possibly as early as the 5th century BC.
The name Atilius is thought to be derived from the Latin word "ater," meaning "black" or "dark," suggesting that the original bearer of this name may have had a dark complexion or dark hair. Alternatively, it could also be related to the Latin word "attilus," which means "fattened" or "well-fed," implying a connection to wealth or prosperity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Attilio can be found in the Liber Pontificalis, an ancient book of biographies of the popes. It mentions an Atilius who served as a papal legate in the 6th century AD. Additionally, the name appears in various medieval manuscripts and records from Italy, indicating its long-standing presence in the region.
Notable individuals with the surname Attilio throughout history include:
1. Attilio Bertolucci (1911-2000), an Italian poet and writer, best known for his collection of poems titled "Sirio" and his memoir "Arancia Rossa."
2. Attilio Piccioni (1892-1976), an Italian composer and conductor who wrote several operas, ballets, and orchestral works, and served as the director of the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome.
3. Attilio Pavesi (1910-2011), an Italian cyclist who won the Giro d'Italia in 1936 and competed in several other major cycling events.
4. Attilio Remigio Ruggerone (1677-1761), an Italian architect and engineer who designed several notable buildings in Turin, including the Church of San Carlo and the Palazzo Chiablese.
5. Attilio Monti (1924-2020), an Italian fencer who won two gold medals and one silver medal in foil fencing at the Olympic Games in 1952 and 1960.
The surname Attilio is also found in various place names and geographical locations throughout Italy, such as the town of Attilio in the province of Chieti, and the village of Attilio Terzo in the province of Alessandria. These place names may have originated from individuals bearing the surname Attilio who lived or held property in those areas.
Demographics
Among Census respondents with the surname Attilio, the largest self-reported group is White at 90.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.3%) and Two or More Races (3.4%).
The bar chart below shows how Attilio bearers described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Attilio surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
Timeline
Attilio appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2000
National surname rank
First available Census row
2010
National surname rank
+8 bearers (+6.7%)
2020
National surname rank
-10 bearers (-7.9%)
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #131,366 | 119 | 0.04 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #133,048 | 127 | 0.04 | +8 bearers (+6.7%) | Down 1,682 places |
| 2020 | #144,270 | 117 | 0.04 | -10 bearers (-7.9%) | Down 11,222 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
How has the Attilio surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #133,048 | #144,270 | -8.4% |
| Count | 127 | 117 | -7.9% |
| Per 100K | 0.04 | 0.04 | -2.1% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Attilio bearers went from 127 to 117 (-7.9% change). The surname moved down 11,222 positions in the national ranking, going from #133,048 to #144,270.
FAQ
Name Census estimates that about 134 living Americans carry the surname Attilio. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 2,557,868 residents.
Attilio ranks #144,270 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Very Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.04 per 100,000 residents, which is about 0 people out of every 100,000.
The raw 2020 Census file counted 117 people with the surname Attilio. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (134), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.04 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 0 of them to have the surname Attilio.
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Attilio went from 127 recorded bearers to 117. That is a decrease of 10 (-7.9%). In the national ranking it fell from #133,048 to #144,270.
Among Census respondents with the surname Attilio, the largest self-reported group is White at 90.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.3%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Attilio in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.6% (106 people in the source table).
Attilio appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (90.6%), Hispanic (4.3%), Two or More Races (3.4%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Attilio (2000, 2010, 2020).
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
Italian surname meaning "little nobleman" or "little leader". The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Attilio (0.04 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.